Monthly Archives: December 2013

This week is Computer Science Education week. To celebrate we participated in The Hour of Code. Students learned how to use the program blockly to write code to solve some maze puzzles. 13,732,013 students have participated in and completed an hour of coding this week! Each child received a certificate for participating. If your child was one of the many that fell in love with coding, check out code.org for more lessons and activities!

Math – Finally, we have made it to the digit-by-digit method for division. This is the method that you and I learned in school. We will continue to practice this method with larger numbers and we will also spend some more time on working with those pesky zeros in our quotients.

Reading – We finished reading The Tiger Rising and had a great discussion about recurring themes in stories as well as motifs. Ask your child what motifs they found! What is the message or the take away that they will take with them from this book?

Writing – We are continuing to build our personal essays. Students have developed a thesis, came up with three reasons that support their thesis and have written a story for each reason that supports their reason. Students also learned how to create parallelism in lists, or, how to write a list of things that support their reason.

Science – We are continuing to explore the different states of matter. So far we have explored the properties of solids and liquids. Ask you child if they can tell you what the physical properties of matter are and what the properties of solids and liquids are.

What a great week of learning we have had during this first week of December! I hope every one enjoyed the Thanksgiving break.

Math – We have been learning two different methods to divide multi-digit numbers. Students have learned the place value sections method and the expanded notation method. Next week we will be learning the digit by digit method (this is the method you learned!) by learning these different methods students gain an understanding of what they are doing in the digit by digit method, this keeps in line with the Common. Core state standards emphasis on thinking deeply. It is important that your child have a solid grasp of the basic multiplication and division facts. All of the struggles in class have happened when they make a simple fact mistake. Ask your child about the challenge assignment! Also have them show you the videos of each method on edmodo!

Reading – We are continuing to read The Tiger Rising by Kate Di Camillo. We have been learning how to develop theories about characters in the books we are reading and how to grow these theories as our characters grow and change throughout the story. Have your child tell you their theories about Rob and Sistine.

Writing – We have started our unit on writing personal essays. Students have learned how to develop a thesis and support their thesis with reasons. We are now in the process of writing mini-stories as evidence for our reasons. Ask your child what their thesis statement is!

Social Studies – We completed our first unit on geography and the five themes of geography. Each child created a project that looked at one region of the United States through each if the five themes. If you have not had the chance to see your child’s project ask them to share it with you.

Science – We are just starting a unit on the States of Matter. We have learned how to describe matter using physical properties like size, shape, color, texture and mass. Students learned that mass is not wait. There is a difference between the two due to gravity! Students have also begun to create flashcards to help them study the vocabulary for the unit.

Please remember that we are still taking donations for Share a little Warmth. Items needed are NEW pajamas, hats, scarves, mittens/gloves and blankets. Thank you for your donations!

We will have our second all class raffle next week. If you would like to donate gift cards ($5) from Subway, McDonalds, Burger King etc., they would be greatly appreciated.

Just a few reminders:

Please return the signed report card envelope that came home today as soon as possible.

We need a few volunteers for Build A Gift. Remember that these are presents for you, but if you would like to help you must have a volunteer form on file by December 13. We will be building the gifts on Wednesday, December 18, from 1- 2 pm. Please email me or Mrs. Kleppe if you would like to help. Thanks!

Upcoming Important Dates

Tuesday, December 10 – Swimming at Aquatic Center 10:00am

December 16-20 Shop at Five Below on Harvey St. Muskegon where everything is $5 or less and 10% of the dollars spent will be donated back to Holmes Elementary Parent Club. Don’t forget to bring the flyer that should come home with your student soon so we get credit for your purchase